​On Monday February 26th, graduate student Ryan Eckert presented his Master’s thesis seminar at HBOI and was approved by his committee (Dr. Joshua Voss, Dr. Nicholas Dickens, and Dr. Colin Hughes). His project is focused on describing population structure and algal symbiont communities (Symbiodinium spp.) of Montastraea cavernosa across multiple depth zones on the Belize Barrier Reef. He has been working with samples collected from the Voss Lab’s previous trips to Smithsonian Institution’s Carrie Bow Cay field station. Using these samples he is conducting microsatellite genotyping analyses in order to determine connectivity between corals at different depth zones. Ryan is also amplifying the ITS2 region of Symbiodinium rDNA to determine clade types of symbionts present in M. cavernosa at different depths. Ryan will be presenting some preliminary results at the 47th annual Benthic Ecology Meeting in Corpus Christi, TX. Stay tuned for updates on Ryan’s research as he progresses!